Jim Wong Chu: Difference between revisions

Born in Hong Kong in 1949, but raised in Canada as a paper son, Jim Wong-Chu is well known as a pioneer of the Asian Canadian activist movement.  A poet, editor and historian Jim Wong-Chu is among the first authors of Asian descent with the likes of SKY Lee and Paul Yee who challenged the Canadian literary establishment and questioned why it was devoid of any Asian writers.  Without role models or any blueprint, the trio began to experiment with different forms of fiction and decided to not only get published but also form informal writing networks to encourage other Asian Canadians to hone their craft.   

An idea for an Asian Canadian literary anthology thus germinated in the1960s, when Jim Wong-Chu and a group of young Asian Canadians began to explore their identities. That exploration took them back to their roots and ignited a desire to express who they were as Canadians of Asian descent.  Jim Wong-Chu is a poet whose book Chinatown Ghosts (Arsenal Pulp Press, 1986; now out of print) was the first poetry book by an Asian Canadian writer.